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Rizal, Philippines. (April 26, 2025): This week the U.S. and the Philippines concluded Balikatan 25, a joint military exercise that puts China on notice… we will be ready. In this photo by Sergeant Ezekieljay Correa, U.S. Marine Sergeant Ceasar Luna, right, Australian Army Lieutenant Benjamin Buchanon, left, and Philippine Airman Sergeant Edmond V. Quimson Jr. observe a target during a close-air support rehearsal.
This is the fortieth Balikatan exercise that featured joint sailing, medical evacuation, and live fire events. In addition to conventional warfare, the militaries practiced providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. It is also the first time the games were joined by the Japan Maritime Self-defense Forces.
The exercise opened with a maritime interdiction scenario where Philippine Navy assets swiftly engaged and neutralized a simulated seaborne invasion. The U.S. Navy contributed Sailors from the USS Savannah and USS Comstock who participated in exercises involving maritime search and rescue, replenishment at sea, and gunnery training. For the first time, the Americans deployed their Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, a ground-based launcher designed for sea denial and control with a range of one hundred nautical miles.
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Fort Benning, Georgia. (April 28, 2025): In this photo by Staff Sergeant Cayce Watson, Soldiers compete to win the Lacerda Cup, an Army-wide Combatives tournament that tests soldiers hand-to-hand fighting skills. The competition is named in honor of Staff Sergeant Pedro Lacerda, the first Black Belt professor of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with the 75th Ranger Regiment. The Army’s Combatives Program builds mental and physical toughness by training Soldiers in close quarters fighting techniques while instilling the warrior ethos that prepares Soldiers to close with and destroy the enemy. As of this writing, the Army has trained more than three million soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.
Jiu-jitsu is a Japanese and Brazilian martial art focused on grappling and ground fighting techniques, emphasizing leverage and technique over strength. It is a classical martial art that teaches defenders to use their opponents’ size and strength against them. This is done through a series of grappling moves that control and manipulate an opponent’s body on the ground. The goal is to force an opponent to submit through techniques like chokes, arm bars, and leg locks.
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Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. (April 15, 2025): In this photo by Staff Sergeant Jose Miguel Tamondong, Master Sergeant Trevor Clark, a pararescueman with the 88th Test and Evaluation Squadron leaps from an HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter during a combat arms demonstration. America has a well-deserved reputation for doing whatever it takes to rescue downed pilots, anywhere at any time.
During World War II, the Japanese ridiculed the Americans for their determination to save downed airmen as another example of Yankee weakness. Philosophically, Japanese culture celebrated ritual suicide rather than surrender and they could not fathom why the U.S. would expend such a heroic effort on a handful of Airmen. Towards the end of the war, they would come to understand why.
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Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. (April 17, 2025): Active Shooter! In this photo by Senior Airman Mikaela Smith, Airmen from the 633rd Security Forces Squadron clear the lower level of a hospital during an active shooter training exercise. Unfortunately, active shooters have become all too common in American society. For the military, the prospect of active shooters on base is all too real.
Since 1993, US military installations have had more than twenty mass shootings. The most recent, and most deadly, was November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, Texas. Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire inside the base’s processing center, killing thirteen people and an unborn child, and wounding thirty-two others. Hasan was later sentenced to death and is currently on military death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
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“If a man says he isn’t afraid of dying, he is either a liar or a Gurkha.”
— Sam Manekshaw.
Visakhapatnam, India. (April 13, 2025): In this photo by 1st Sergeant James Tomlinson, a Soldier assigned to Bayonet Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 11th Airborne Division, provides cover for an Indian Army Gurkha rifleman. The Gurkhas are natives of Nepal with a fearsome reputation for effectiveness in combat. The Americans were in India participating in this year’s Tiger Triumph exercises.
The British Army “discovered” these fierce fighters early in the 19th century and hired them to protect its interests in neighboring India. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Gurkhas fought on the British side where they were officially became known as the Gurkha Rifles.
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Camp Guernsey, Wyoming. (April 16, 2025): It is the ultimate nightmare scenario. An enemy force of considerable size and capability attacks a convoy of U.S. vehicles transporting a nuclear weapon. In this photo by Staff Sergeant Michael A. Richmond, Soldiers assigned to the 101st Airborne Division act as the opposing force to test the Air Force’s ability to guard these extremely sensitive convoys.
In its Nuclear Convoy Course, the Air Force uses paratroopers to simulate sophisticated attacks on base security. These series of attacks are used to evaluate how well America’s nuclear sites are protected. The goal is for students to identify gaps in their own defenses, make adjustments, and return to their home base prepared for any contingency.
Squaring off against the paratroopers was the 90th, 91st, and 341st Missile Security Operations Squadrons from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming; Minot AFB, North Dakota; and Malmstrom AFB, Montana, respectively.